Sightglass Coffee
Named after the window on the drum roaster, the one you watch the bean change color through. They buy freshly harvested lots direct and roast in small batches.
Why go
The name is a machine part, and the company says so: Our company takes its name from the 'sightglass,' the viewing window on our vintage PROBAT coffee roaster that exposes the complex and delicate process of roasting coffee.
2 Its own account of the buying is specific too, Coffee is a seasonal fruit and we source it directly from origin in freshly harvested lots,
and of the roasting: Attaining a perfect roast is an intuition, a smell, a sound, a slight change in color.
Those are the roaster's words about its own work. The business behind them started as a cart in SoMa in 2009, run by brothers Justin and Jerad Morrison, and it is not their company any more. Jillian D'Onfro reported for the San Francisco Standard in May 2024 that the Morrisons had stepped down from the business to pursue other endeavors,
with Sharon Healy taking over as chief executive in January after nearly a decade at Starbucks.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: a single origin on filter, since the direct-lot buying is the part of the operation the company builds everything else on.
- Order: a bag to take away. The roastery is the business and the counter is its shop window.
- Avoid: assuming this is still the founders' company. It has been under new leadership since January 2024.1
What locals & experts say
- The San Francisco Standard (Jillian D'Onfro, 22 May 2024): the change is placed in a pattern rather than treated as a one-off.
Sightglass becomes the latest local third-wave coffee business to relinquish its original leadership after raising millions in venture capital funding, following in the footsteps of Blue Bottle and Philz.
1 - Sightglass, on why it wants you to know the origin:
knowing the story behind your coffee, where it was grown, how it was processed, and who handled it along the way, is a powerful link from the cup to the wider world.
Its own statement of aim, and not an endorsement.2
Good to know
- Which door: this is 270 7th Street in SoMa. The company ran three San Francisco shops as at May 2024 and no addresses were published for the others.
- Booking: walk in.
- What is published: business reporting and the roaster's own words. No critic has published a verdict on the coffee.
Verdict
could-visit — A sightglass is the window on a drum roaster, the one you watch the bean through as it changes color, and the company named itself after it. That is a roastery telling you where it thinks the work happens, and it backs it up by buying freshly harvested lots direct and roasting in small batches on a vintage PROBAT. It started as a cart in SoMa in 2009, four blocks from where this shop now stands. The rung stops at could-visit for one reason: no critic has published a verdict on what is in the cup, so what is proved is the intent and the machine.